Staling on the T and why you should walk throughout your squash match

Staling on the T

Staling on the T is the phenomenon in which you are arrived on the T too soon, i.e. before your opponent has make his shot, this causes you to plant your feet on the ground making it harder to move again in an efficient way.

By staling on the T you are more exposed to unplanned shots from your opponent and in the long run you will consume more energy because you are constantly wasting your momentum.

The reason why you stale on the T is that you tend to rush when moving on court. What I mean is that everytime you see the ball you instantly move toward it and as soon that you have done your shot you rush to the T.

Although this is surely a demonstration of willingness to put in hard work, moving this way will hinder your game on the long turn and this movement pattern is surely not the ultimate destination you want to go reach.

Walk and keep your momentum

Try instead to walk as much as you can.
Do this especially with long shots, and for shots that bounces of the side wall.
In fact whenever a ball goes out of the side wall, the more you wait for it, the more it will come to the center, forcing your opponent to back off in order to avoid a stroke.

Also try to move slow whenever you are heading back to the T, in fact if you move slow and keep directing toward the T what will happen is that when your opponent will actually make the shot you will still be moving, making it easy for you to head directly toward the ball and keep your momentum.


To wrap up here's a simple exercise for you:

1. Try to walk as much as you can during a match
2. Make sure to keep your momentum when you are heading toward the T.